ANNCast

The Last Days of Bandai Entertainment USA

ANNCast 148 - The Last Days of Bandai Entertainment USA

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Former Director of Marketing Robert Napton joins Zac and Justin for a long, in-depth talk about the closure of Bandai Entertainment USA and the long, strange and sudden odyssey the company went through in its final years.

This episode chronicles Robert's journey through early anime fandom, his time with Image Comics in the 1990s, his early days in Bandai's fledgling manga division and his eventual rise to Director of Marketing through the company's shutdown in 2011. You really don't want to miss this episode.

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NSFW Language Warning: There's a little bit of swearing, yes.

ANNCast Episode 148 Breakdown

00:30 Robert Napton introduction and his early days as a fan and at Books Nippon/US Renditions/LA Hero

25:00 Robert's days working with Image Comics and Rob Liefeld

33:20 Robert's early work at Bandai, focusing exclusively on manga

38:40 His transition into the role of Director of Marketing and the 2005-2007 era

50:00 Bandai Visual USA/Honneamise, the pros and cons

01:08:00 Dealing with Gundam Fans

01:20:00 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

01:31:00 What the competition was doing

01:38:00 The End

02:05:20 Twitter time! Including a rundown of some of Bandai's notable titles and whether or not they performed!

And that's it! See you next week.

Have questions for the ANNCast crew? Tweet 'em to @ANNZac! Or check out the community forums thread about the show, or send email questions to zac@animenewsnetwork dot com!

Theme Song: "Bucharest" by The New Division. Check them out on iTunes!

Special thanks to Phillip Harrington for designing and creating the ANNCast logo.